Rash of robberies expands in Erie

Client Ray Moffatt, 46, of Erie, at left, works with Candy Miller, owner of Candy's Notary Service, on April 2. Miller, 52, was robbed at gunpoint on March 29 at her business, which is located in the 300 block of East 12th Street in Erie. CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

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ERIE, Pa. -- Candy Miller spent Good Friday with a gun to her neck.

Barb Fargiorgio stared down the barrel of a handgun on her first day back at work after Easter.

Robberies on both ends of a holiday weekend in Erie left the women shaken, but more perplexed than angry.

Why would a person choose to rob Miller's notary service, or the insurance agency that Fargiorgio manages, the two women wondered on Tuesday.

Erie police are wondering the same thing.

The targets of recent robberies in the city have branched out from gas stations and convenience stores to "some out of the ordinary locations," Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin said.

Those targets include an eastside auto-repair business that was robbed on March 22; a laundromat that was robbed on March 23; and a small corner store near East High School that was robbed late Monday afternoon.

Franklin said the robberies are "really starting to pop." Police are going to concentrate their efforts on preventing more stores from being robbed, and catching those responsible for committing the crimes, he said.

At least 22 stores in Erie have been robbed since the start of the year, with a gun used in the majority of those crimes.

Fourteen armed robberies have occurred since the beginning of March.

The targets have ranged from Family Dollar and Circle K stores to a tattoo parlor and an adult book store.

Franklin said it doesn't appear that the same person or group of people is committing many of the robberies because police are seeing different suspects, based on store surveillance video images and descriptions provided by the victims.

Many of the robberies have occurred during daylight hours, at places on busy streets.

The latest happened shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Monday at the Keem Store in the 1100 block of East Lake Road. Franklin said a black man who was about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 180 pounds, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black jeans, walked into the store with a silver handgun and stole an undisclosed sum of cash from a woman's purse.

Less than four hours earlier, a Hispanic man with a dark-colored mustache and beard who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt used a silver handgun to rob the Lighthouse Insurance Agency at 804 E. 38th St.

Fargiorgio, who is manager of the insurance agency, said she was standing outside on her lunch break when a man parked his car on Wayne Street and headed toward the agency. She said she assumed he was a customer, and told him to go inside as she would be in momentarily.

The robber demanded money. Fargiorgio and another woman in the office, who was working her second day on the job, gave him some cash.

"Insurance isn't exactly a cash-type business," Fargiorgio said. "And it was April Fools' Day. The first thing in my head was, 'Do I know this person?'"

The man ran out and fled in a red car, according to police. Fargiorgio said she was unable to get its license plate.

Miller said she was changing the answering machine message at Candy's Notary Service, a business she opened at 317 E. 12th St. in April of 2007, when she heard the door open on Friday at about 1:40 p.m. She turned around to see a man with a gun.

The man screamed for money. When Miller told him that she didn't have any, she said the man grabbed her by the neck and began dragging her around. He fled after she gave him some cash.

"I've never had an issue here. Usually, if someone gets loud and obnoxious, I can get loud and obnoxious, too," Miller said. "But when someone comes at you with a weapon ... it's a whole different scenario."

Miller said she got "battered and bruised, but I didn't get dead." She's back at work this week, handling business and fielding calls from people who heard about the robbery and wanted to check on her.

She said she's taking steps to better protect herself, including taking another self-defense class.

"The thing is, I was not going to be a victim again. I'm going to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep on truckin'," Miller said.

Anyone with information on any of the robberies is asked to call Erie police at 870-1120.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhahn.

Online Extras

MORE ON CRIME: To see more coverage of crime in the Erie area, including Erie County’s Most Wanted and a map of incidents in Erie and Millcreek Township, click here.

MORE ONLINE: To read more stories and see videos about local gun violence, and to view a database of criminal reports in your neighborhood, click here.